


So Apparently, Ghosts are Real

by Feenie



Category: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Dysfunctional Family, Family Drama, Family Issues, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Ghosts, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Musical References, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, Talking To Dead People, not entirely canon compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 09:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11228343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feenie/pseuds/Feenie
Summary: In the not too distant future, next Sunday AD,Jonah Heston and his robot pals are being haunted by some nasty fiends!Starts from early Season 11 and will go to the end of the season and a little after.





	1. Late-Night Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> So, basics of this AU: TV's Frank and Dr. Forrester are haunting Jonah Heston because why not.
> 
> Don't ask me how Soultaker factors into this, because I'm not entirely sure how to make it work here lol
> 
> Also G is referred to such because her actual, canon name is a Romani slur and I don't feel comfortable calling her by that name, for those confused

The Satellite of Love was haunted.

At least, Jonah was starting to believe it was. It had been a few months since Kinga dropped him off on the Satellite of Love, he had been subjected to a few bad movies, and he was attempting to befriend the bots on the ship. Cambot was…likely neutral to him, G was friendly and thankful he was doing his best to help with everything technical on the ship, and Crow and Tom were…amicable at best, teasing on the level of younger siblings at worst.

That ‘at worst’ attitude was currently why Jonah was questioning the two on a day when Kinga wasn’t sending up a movie. Doors had been opening and closing with no rhyme or reason, Jonah had to start double-checking the shower water wasn’t set to either extremely hot or cold, his room was often in complete disarray the moment he stepped out to help G with something on the Satellite, and he swore he was hearing laughter when he tried to sleep.

“Are you two sure you’re not trying to pull pranks on me?” Jonah asked, staring down at the bots with his arms folded. “Everything’s been completely topsy-turvy around here, and unless we’ve got a Bonehead secretly hiding up here…”

“It’s not us!” Crow responded. “Honest! Look, we mess around _sometimes,_ but all this stuff isn’t us!”

“I can confirm, we’d do something smarter than just opening the doors for no reason or messing with the showers! We got tired of that with Mike!” Tom agreed.

Jonah took off his glasses and dragged his hand down his face. “And if I check Cambot’s feed, will it show you two aren’t messing around?”

“Absolutely!” Tom and Crow said at once.

Jonah sighed deeply. “Alright. Cambot? Pull up security camera feed from last night.”

Cambot descended from the ceiling, and several screens lit up with footage from last night. Jonah was asleep in his bed, and Crow and Tom were…surprisingly, asleep in their own beds as well. G was curled up on the console, Jonah noted as he watched the footage. Eventually, one of the doors closed and opened with no prompting whatsoever, and a burst of laughter came from nowhere in the footage. Crow and Tom looked at each other before looking back at Jonah.

“Uh, Jonah? That’s, uh…” Crow began, quietly.

“That’s Dr. Forrester’s laugh,” Tom said. “He died years ago.”

“Wasn’t…Wasn’t he the guy who sent your creator here in the first place?” Jonah asked. Crow and Tom nodded slowly together, and Jonah pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay–Okay, I think it’s Kinga or someone messing with us, I’m gonna ring them up.”

Cambot’s feed disappeared, and Jonah sent a call to Moon 13. Max answered immediately, a puzzled look on his face.

“Jonah? You never send calls, so, uh…I’m assuming something’s up.”

“I was hoping for Kinga, but…look, are either of you messing with things on the Satellite?” Jonah questioned. “Doors have been opening and closing, I reviewed Cambot’s feed and there was apparently audio of Dr. Forrester laughing…”

Max’s eyes went huge the moment Jonah mentioned Dr. Forrester. “I–Dr. Forrester? Why would Kinga do that, exactly??”

“Because she hates us?” Crow piped up.

“Because we knew her dad and wanted to torment us with his voice?” Tom added.

“No! Look, I have no idea what’s going on, I can’t say what’s going on up there, but Kinga…” Max hesitated, fidgeting for a moment. “…she does have access to audio and video of him, mostly Deep 13’s security tapes, but she wouldn’t use that just to torment you. We’re trying to torment and drive you insane with bad movies, not make you believe there are ghosts on the Satellite of Love.”

“What about you, then?” Crow asked.

Max shrugged. “I’ve been busy over here as well, this isn’t my doing either. I’m sorry, I don’t know how to help, but…good luck with dealing with this.”

The feed cut, and Jonah drummed his fingers on the console. “…it couldn’t be ghosts, could it?”

–

So, that night, Jonah found himself pacing around his room, unable to sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking, what if someone else was messing with the ship, what if he was honest-to-god going crazy after watching mediocre movies, what if it was G or Cambot secretly messing with the ship, what if it was malfunctioning, what if–

Dr. Forrester’s laugh could be heard, muffled, from outside his room, and Jonah stared at his door for a split second before running out of his room and down the hall. That did it, he was going to get to the bottom of this once and for all.

He slid to a halt when he saw two pale figures in front of what appeared to be the bathroom. One looked like the spitting image of Max, spit-curl and all. The other looked like a man with wild brown hair, a white streak going through it and his mustache.

“Clay, I don’t think this is a good idea for bothering him long-term…” the guy who might as well have been a clone of Max (or was Max a clone of him?) spoke up.

“Shut up, Frank, we can hardly do anything as is!” the other man responded, harshly.

“Uh, hi, excuse me?” Jonah piped up, stepping toward the figures. “Excuse me, but what in the name of all that isn’t horrible movies are you two doing here?”

The two jumped, and on closer inspection, their eyes were pure white. The guy who Jonah was now pretty sure was Dr. Forrester seemed almost…sparkly? It vaguely reminded Jonah of stars.

“…he can see us,” Dr. Forrester said, raising his eyebrows. “Frank, I thought you said he couldn’t see us!”

“I thought he couldn’t!” Frank responded. “Why can you see us?”

“I don’t know, and quite frankly, I don’t care at the moment. Look, whoever you two are, if you’re haunting me for some reason or whatever…can you please just go? I have enough to deal with as is,” Jonah answered.

“Of course not!” Dr. Forrester snapped. “I swore I was going to drive the Satellite of Love to insanity, and if I can’t do that with movies, then I’ll haunt them as a ghost!”

Jonah groaned, slapping his forehead. “…you’re really Dr. Forrester, aren’t you? Good lord, now I know where Kinga gets it from…”

“Of course! A Forrester is a Forrester, after all!” Dr. F declared, folding his arms and puffing his chest out. “And what kind of Forrester doesn’t capture people and make them watch the worst movies they can find?”

‘A sane one,’ Jonah thought before Frank stepped forward, wringing his hands together.

“Is Max with her?” he asked. “I haven’t seen him in so long…”

“I…yes? They’ve been working together, don’t you guys know that?” Jonah asked in turn.

Dr. Forrester’s bravado faded, arms dropping to his sides. “Well–yes and no. We only just arrived here, I only know Kinga is resuming the experiments…”

“Well, she and Max are. Happy? I really would rather you two just…go away and bother them instead of me,” Jonah said, slumping forward slightly. “I need an actual night’s worth of sleep…”

Dr. Forrester and Frank instantly shook their heads. “Sorry, Banana Boy, but you’re stuck with us!” Dr. F declared.

“The name is Jonah,” Jonah muttered.

“Better get used to us,” Frank added. “We’re not going anywhere for a long time.”

The phrase ‘fuck my life’ had never been so apt for Jonah.

–

“So, reviewing the footage from last night, Jonah…I wonder if we are driving you batty,” Kinga spoke the next morning. Jonah sat at the console, resting his head in his hands. He had gotten a decent amount of sleep, but was abruptly awoken at 6 in the morning by Frank and Dr. F tipping over a stack of books in his room, and quite frankly Jonah just wanted to go back to bed.

“I mean, I don’t think it’s normal for you to talk to yourself,” Kinga went on, a smile creeping up her face like a kudzu vine.

Jonah rolled his eyes. “I was sleeptalking,” he responded.

“Ha! Yeah, right! And if you think the last one was a stinker, wait until tomorrow!” Kinga declared. “Press the button, Max!”

Max hit the button, and the feed vanished from the screen. Beside Jonah were Dr. F and Frank, and the two of them had big smiles on their faces, Dr. F’s hands clasped together.

“I’m so proud of her!” Dr. F said with a gleeful voice. “She’s doing such a good job of continuing the family legacy!”

“Max is doing great too!” Frank added. “They’re just like us when we were alive!”

“Jonah, are you okay?” Crow asked as he and Tom approached them. “You _were_ talking to yourself last night.”

“I’m fine, it’s…”

Jonah glanced at Dr. F and Frank still chatting about their kids. “…would you believe me if I said ghosts?”

“Sure. Mike was tormented by Dr. Forrester’s mom, an intelligent ape, and a guy who kept his brain in a bowl. Ghosts aren’t that surprising,” Tom responded.

“…it’s ghosts,” Jonah said. “Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank are haunting me.”

Crow and Tom were silent for a good five minutes before they shrugged. “…not as surprising as I expected,” Crow admitted.

“Wait, do–do you guys believe me?” Jonah asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Of course!” Tom answered. “Look, we tease you a bunch, but that doesn’t mean we won’t believe you when you say you’re being haunted. What do TV’s Frank and Dr. F want?”

“To haunt me,” Jonah admitted, slumping over the console, “and there’s not much I can do about it.”

“Well, don’t worry! We’ll help you get rid of them!” Crow promised. “It can’t be that hard to get rid of ghosts, right?”

Unfortunately, judging by the sneer on Dr. F’s face, Jonah had an awful feeling it would be that hard.


	2. We Got Movie Sign

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely sure where to go with this fic yet aside from some angst with the ghosts and slice of life stuff, tbh.
> 
> Also I don't think this will be too long? To the end of this season at least, maybe a little after.
> 
> netflix i'm begging you give us season 12

Jonah sat on his bed that night, flipping through a book about ghosts. Frank and Dr. F were elsewhere, and he needed the temporary peace and quiet.

“Traditional ways of getting rid of ghosts include burning sage, helping them find peace, or just hiring an exorcist…” he mumbled. He closed the book and leaned back, shutting his eyes. Two options were out of the question, and…well, maybe there would be some sage somewhere onboard? It was worth looking around after the movie tomorrow…

Unfortunately, just as he dropped the book and reached to turn off the light for the night, Frank and Dr. F returned.

“I didn’t realize the Satellite was so spacious!” Dr. F exclaimed. “I always wondered how Joel could manage to make something each week for the invention exchange…”

Maybe if Jonah turned on his side, closed his eyes, and pretended he was asleep, maybe he could avoid them for the night–

“Hey! Banana Boy! Wake up!” Dr. F shouted, and Jonah opened his eyes to see him hovering right before him. He yelped, tumbling out of bed.

“I was trying to sleep!” Jonah complained, standing up slowly. “We have a movie tomorrow, c'mon…”

“Too bad, we’re in the mood to chat,” Dr. F answered, folding his arms. “I want to know, why does the Satellite look more purple than I last recall seeing it?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you go ask Kinga?” Jonah asked, sitting on his bed.

“We don’t know if she can see us,” Frank said, scratching the back of his head. “And plus, we’d rather bother you right now.”

Jonah sighed, shoulders sagging. “Look, I don’t know when the last guy left, or if he decorated the Satellite, or if Kinga did before capturing me, or anything else. It was purple when I got here.”

“Hmph. It’s not bad on the eyes, I’ll admit,” Dr. F muttered, looking around. “…feels off, though.”

“Do you know Mike Nelson?” Frank asked.

Jonah shook his head. “Nope. I only know what the bots tell me about him. And no, I didn’t know Joel either,” he quickly added.

Dr. F was strangely quiet, floating around the room with an odd look on his face. Jonah shrugged, turning the lights off in the room. “If that’s all for tonight, let me rest, please? I’ve got an awful, awful movie to make fun of tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Dr. F responded, and within moments, Jonah was out like a light.

–

Dr. F and Frank followed Jonah into the theater the following day as lights blared for Movie Sign. Honestly, Jonah didn’t know what to expect: they behaved during the invention exchange, save for a few comments from Dr. F snarking about their inventions (“Mouth-powered vacuum cleaner, _please!_ Kinga’s is much better!”)

If Jonah wasn’t so concerned with trying to present himself as completely sane to the Mads, he would tell Dr. F to take his stupid green labcoat, and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.

“Enter the nightmare-fueled world of _Avalanche!_ Unless, Jonah, you want to surrender and admit _Time Travelers_ was enough to drive you insane…” Kinga said, grinning.

“Nope,” Jonah responded, shaking his head.

“Send them the movie, Fra–” Dr. F began before cutting himself off. “…oh, right.”

“Psst! Jonah, are they…y’know, in the theater with us?” Crow whispered to Jonah as _Avalanche_ started to roll. Dr. F and Frank took seats on the far left side of the theater, for whatever reason…

“Yeah. They’re sitting on the far left side,” Jonah mumbled. “Don’t ask me why, though.”

To give them credit, they started rattling off riffs as easily as the bots did. Though, once or twice, Jonah found himself having to double check it was Dr. F and not Crow cracking jokes about how bad the fake snow looked.

“I should’ve shown this film ages ago!” Dr. F grumbled at some point. “Would’ve probably gotten to that temp…”

The movie came and went, and Kinga looked noticeably frustrated as Jonah left the theater. Dr. F reached out to push him before remembering he was somewhat intangible and retracted his arm.

“What’s wrong with Kinga?” he questioned.

“Kinga? What’s up?” Jonah asked aloud.

“Nothing _you_ need to worry about,” she hissed, venom practically dripping from her voice. Max stepped back, shoulders tense. “So you got through today’s movie, big deal! I’ll have something even worse for you next week!”

She turned to Max. “Push the button, now!”

Max just nodded, hitting the button and ending the broadcast. G huffed as she lowered herself from the ceiling. “And I was looking forward to performing my song, too…”

Jonah patted G, sighing. “There, there, maybe we’ll ring her up later and hope she’s in a better mood…if not, you can perform just for us, if you want.”

G rested her head against Jonah, smiling. “Aw, thanks! Maybe in a bit, I still need to keep tabs on the ship,” she responded, zipping away.

“So, what did Frank and Dr. F do during the film? Bother you? Riff on the film?” Crow asked.

“Bother you _and_ riff on the film?” Tom added.

“Riffing the film, yeah. Bother me, no,” Jonah answered. “Right now, uh…”

Jonah glanced at Dr. F, who was still looking at the screen with a deep frown on his face. “…he’s–Dr. F, he’s still staring at the screen. I think he’s worried about Kinga.”

“Clay?” Frank quietly said, reaching out to touch Dr. Forrester’s shoulder. Dr. F jolted, then looked at Frank.

“What? What is it? Something’s up with Kinga, and I have half a mind to check on her…”

“You’ve been staring at the screen. Maybe you should go?” Frank suggested.

Dr. F grunted, folding his arms for a moment before turning to Jonah. “Jonah and the Pussycats, where are Kinga and Max?”

“Moon 13, the Moon,” Jonah answered, “which is right below us.”

In an instant, Dr. F phased through the floor and vanished. Crow and Tom stared at Jonah.

“So, was that our ghost friends?” Crow asked.

Jonah nodded. “I think at this point it’s safe to say I’m talking to them if I’m not talking to any of you guys.”

He couldn’t help but crack a grin. “I’ll give you guys the heads-up when I’m finally cracking because of a movie. Unless I start defacing the satellite. Whichever comes first.”

–

Dr. Forrester had yet to return by the time it was 9 PM on the clock, and Jonah was tinkering with the next invention for next week. In front of him lay a cannon, a discoball, and confetti. Lots and lots of confetti.

“I don’t think Joel ever came up with something like this,” Frank noted, Jonah jumping to his feet at his voice.

“I–well, I’m not trying to imitate Joel,” Jonah said, “I’m trying to be me. Anyways, uh…I’m making the Disco Cannon for next week’s invention exchange. I need to make sure this doesn’t explode and do anything to the Satellite G can’t repair.”

Frank just nodded, and Jonah fell silent, continuing to work on the Cannon. He hummed in thought, looking at the pile of confetti nearby. He forgot, confetti was paper and paper was flammable, and for obvious reasons cannon plus confetti didn’t mix in the slightest. Maybe this would just work better without the confetti, though that was going to be a horrible pain to transfer back to the room he found it in.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before glancing back at Frank, who was still watching him. The two stared at each other for a few minutes, a very awkward silence filling the room.

“…so, uh…how did you die?” Jonah asked.

“Oh, Torgo the White took me to Second Banana Heaven,” Frank answered. “It’s not a great place, though, I don’t recommend ever going there.”

“…Torgo the White,” Jonah repeated, raising his eyebrows. Frank just shrugged, and Jonah sighed. “Okay, uh…were you Dr. F’s first partner for the experiment, or…?”

“No, the first guy was someone named Erhardt,” Frank explained. “Don’t know where he is, though, he just…vanished not that long after we sent Joel up.”

“People don’t just vanish. What, did Dr. F get annoyed with him and sent him to space too?” Jonah said, grinning. Said grin immediately vanished when Frank winced.

“I mean, Clay was more serious back when the experiment started,” he responded. “I don’t know how it is with our kids, but he wasn’t that afraid to kill me and bring me back to life…”

“…I swear, if it turns out this Erhardt guy was _actually sent to space_ and is on this satellite, I’m bailing the moment I can with the bots,” Jonah muttered.

“Well, I mean, he might’ve just been arrested!” Frank quickly added. “I don’t know, I haven’t asked Clay!”

“…why don’t you ask him, then?” Jonah suggested.

“Oh. Good idea.” Frank left the room, and Jonah continued to tinker on the cannon. Maybe he could make some progress on this…

–

Meanwhile, Dr. F phased into Moon 13. He was quiet for a good minute or two, taking in the place: there were all sorts of skeletal-looking people everywhere he looked, the place was just as purple as the Satellite of Love was if not more so, and he could see Kinga storming off with Max right behind her. Dr. F didn’t hesitate to follow after them.

“Do you need anything, Kinga? A Bonehead to torture, a drink…” Max asked.

“Space. Just space,” Kinga muttered, walking to a room and closing the door. Max stared at the door for a moment before walking away, lowering his head. Dr. Forrester entered the room to see Kinga sitting on a rather large bed, typing away on…what was that? A miniature computer? That thing looked absolutely _tiny_ compared to what Dr. F had to work with back in his day!

She was just about smashing the keyboard, glaring at the screen before closing it like a book and pushing it off to the side. Kinga sighed deeply, lying back on her bed. “…stupid Neville. ‘I love you too much to do that’ my ass.”

Dr. F hovered nearby, shoulders sagging. “Kinga, there are plenty of other fish in the sea,” he tried to encourage.

Kinga turned on her side, grunting, and Dr. Forrester rested a hand on her shoulder. He quickly retracted it when Kinga started to shiver, and she sat up quickly with a sour look.

“Ugh, did the temperature control break again? I swear, Tim better have a good explanation for why it broke this time!” she muttered, storming out of the room.

Dr. Forrester quietly watched Kinga leave, feeling something twist where his heart would be if he was still alive. She couldn’t see him or even hear him. He hadn’t seen her in years, and–

“Clay?” Frank’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Ah, uh–what, Frank, what?” Dr. Forrester questioned, turning to face Frank.

“What happened to Dr. Erhardt?” Frank asked.

Dr. F blinked at him in surprise before shaking his head, glaring at him. “Later, later! I’ve got other things to deal with at the moment!”

He stormed away, Frank slowly following after him.


	3. I'm here, I'm here, I'm here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how did I churn this out in one day? /shrug emoji
> 
> for those following me because of this fic, I don't usually update this quick lmao. I've just sort of been on a roll with this? I'm not sure, this is combination first sort of long fic for MST3K and trying to nail everyone's characters and how they'd interact with one another.

Jonah found himself standing in the Satellite of Love’s deck, but…this looked different, it was smaller, far less purple–

Purple. Dr. F mentioned the old Satellite wasn’t as purple as it was now. Wait, did–was he–

Standing at the console was a guy in a red jumpsuit, though he couldn’t see his face. Beside him were Crow and Tom, excitedly chattering about something. Could they see him? Was he even there?

“Hey, are you…” Jonah began, reaching out to the guy in the red jumpsuit. Just as his hand made contact with his shoulder, the world melted away and was replaced by the bedroom. The bedroom was dead quiet, Dr. F and Frank still away doing ghost things probably.

Jonah stayed in bed for a while, staring at the wall, trying to put a reason to why he found himself possibly dreaming about Joel Robinson, of all people. Maybe interacting with Joel’s captors triggered something in his brain that…somehow led to the obvious conclusion that tonight he’d dream about him. Or something.

Speaking of Frankenstein and his monster, they soon returned. Dr. Forrester was agitated, Frank was trailing behind him with a hangdog expression on his face.

“Wakey wakey, Heston–”

“Beat you to the punch,” Jonah mumbled, sitting up. “What do you want now?”

“What did Frank tell you about Erhardt?” Dr. F questioned.

“Just that he worked with you, that’s it. Why’re you getting worked up about this, anyways?” Jonah responded.

Dr. F stammered for a few minutes before grunting and turning away. “That’s for me to talk about and you to find out about later!”

Jonah rolled his eyes and looked at his watch. 6 AM, he had some time before Crow and Tom woke up…though unfortunately, that just meant time being bothered by F&F. They might as well have been a married couple for all they were acting, he thought to himself.

“So, uh…how did you two meet?” Jonah spoke aloud.

“Oh! Clay and I met while I was still working at Arby’s, he said he needed help around the lab, and I thought it’d be better pay. It…could have been better, between him killing me and going to Second Banana He–”

“Wait, wait, I’m sorry, he _killed_ you??” Jonah interrupted, raising his voice.

“It sounds worse than it really was, trust me,” Frank said. “He brought me back when I died, it was going with Torgo the White that killed me.”

Jonah stared at Frank, slowly shaking his head. “…that’s…disturbing on many, many levels.”

“Exactly!” Frank said in a cheerful tone. “Now I want to know, what did you do at Gizmonic?”

“Oh, I was a Back-jack driver,” Jonah answered. “I mostly brought in meteors and all sorts of space stuff Gizmonic wanted to study or sell.”

He paused. “Er–were there Back-jacks in your day?”

“There were prototypes, last I remember,” Dr. F cut in. “Rather clunky ones at that.”

Frank shrugged. “He worked there, I didn’t.”

“Right…I was working on my percussive drive thesis while driving back to Gizmonic with this cache of meteors, when your _delightful_ kids trapped me on the dark side of the moon with a fake distress call. And so, I’m here, having no choice but to follow in Joel and Mike’s footsteps,” Jonah explained.

Dr. F and Frank snickered. “You answered a fake distress call? On the dark side of the moon,” Dr. F said.

“Yes, because I thought people were in trouble!” Jonah responded, glaring at Dr. F and Frank. “Yes, it was suspect in hindsight, but I wasn’t about to risk being wrong and leaving people to die!”

“Oh my _god_ you’re such a softie!” Dr. F burst out laughing. “That’s hilarious! You fell for such an obvious trap!”

“Yeah, yeah, and I’m pretty sure you were so smart if you look like you died in your prime,” Jonah responded, face turning red. “I’m pretty sure you must’ve been _so_ smart if your mother, Kinga’s grandma, outlived you!”

Dr. Forrester immediately stopped laughing, glaring sharply at Jonah. Frank’s laughter died in his throat, and he shook his head, mouthing ‘no’ over and over.

“Well excuse me, Heston, but I don’t recall asking for your opinion on how long I lived!” Dr. Forrester responded, hands balling into fists.

“And I’m sorry, but I didn’t ask for Tweedledee and Tweedledum to come into my room at 6 AM and offer their opinion on why I got kidnapped!” Jonah snapped.

“Oho, do you want to go, you little punk?!” Dr. Forrester said, floating right in front of Jonah’s face. “I don’t care if I’m a ghost, I’ll kick your ass from here to Second Banana Heaven!”

“Oh, bring it on, old man!” Jonah said. “I bet you won’t even be able to touch me!”

–

“…I think he’s honest-to-god lost his mind.”

Kinga and Max had decided to keep an eye on Jonah, this behavior of his would be worrying if they cared for him in any capacity. There was going insane from a bad movie…then there was whatever this was.

Kinga grimaced, glancing at Max. “He’s just talking to himself. Unless he suddenly brought back Magic Voice and we can’t see where it is, this is just…weird.”

“You think _Avalanche_ was the one that cracked him?” Max asked.

“No, he was sane during it, and he was just fine after…hm.”

Kinga folded her arms, pacing the room. “Did he report anything unusual beforehand?”

“He said he, uh…” Max hesitated, drumming his fingers together. “…you aren’t gonna like this, but he said he was hearing your dad’s voice laughing now and then.”

Kinga froze in place, looking at Max with an unreadable look. “…Max, I swear, if you are deliberately screwing with me–”

“I’m not, I’m being serious here!” Max blurted out. “You can ring him up if you don’t believe me!”

Kinga grit her teeth, storming away. “Then that’s what I’ll do!”

–

“…Clay, this really isn’t going anywhere.”

Dr. F had been trying for a good five minutes straight to hit Jonah, who now was standing there with a grin on his face. While Jonah felt bursts of bone-chilling cold whenever Dr. F’s fist passed through him, it didn’t bother him too badly.

“I don’t care!” Dr. Forrester snapped at Frank. “And quite frankly, Frank, I don’t care if it ever will go somewhere or not!”

“This is kinda sad,” Jonah muttered under his breath.

Before Dr. F could retort, G entered the room. “Jonah, the Mads are calling! It looks pretty urgent!”

Jonah blinked, then nodded, quickly straightening out his jumpsuit as he ran to the bridge and slammed the button. Kinga and Max looked…stressed? Upset? Worried? Jonah didn’t know what to call the looks on their faces.

“…uh, what is it?” Jonah asked, suddenly praying Kinga and Max did not witness him getting into an argument with their ghost dads.

“Heston, the purpose of this experiment is for the film to drive you insane, but there’s insane, and then there’s claiming you’re hearing my dad’s voice,” Kinga said, voice acrid and quiet. “And I should have made this clear earlier, but this–jokes about our dads, that’s _off-limits,_ Heston.”

“Whoa, whoa–no, Kinga, I wouldn’t do that,” Jonah quickly blurted, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it look or sound like I was trying to use your dad for a bad joke or anything like that.”

“I hope so,” Max said, looking away. Dr. Forrester and Frank floated over to the bridge, any hint of the fight earlier gone. Jonah glanced at the ghosts before sighing. This was going to suck.

“Look, I–I really did hear Dr. Forrester’s voice. And there’s a…well, I don’t know what to call it aside from a reason, though it sounds farfetched–”

“Spill it!” Max and Kinga shouted, startling Jonah.

“Your dads are haunting me, okay? Clayton and Frank, they’re on the SOL with me!” Jonah blurted. “I swear, I’m not making it up, they’re here!”

Kinga and Max fell quiet, eyes wide and faces pale. Jonah’s blood froze in his veins, and he took a step back. Well, he was dead, probably. He screwed up, they probably didn’t even believe in ghosts, he was–

“Jonah J. Heston. Do you _swear_ you’re not making any of this up?” Kinga questioned.

“Of–Of course. This isn’t something I’d joke about, honest,” Jonah answered.

Kinga took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “…where are they right now? Our dads, I mean.”

“They’re right beside me, they’re both staring at the screen. Dr. F, he went to check on you last night after the movie was over, Kinga,” Jonah explained.

“…oh,” Kinga quietly said, gripping her arm. “Oh. Oh my god was that…Dad?”

“I’d assume so,” Jonah answered, scratching the back of his head. “Do you want to talk to them? I can sorta relay what they say back to you guys, if you want.”

Max and Kinga exchanged looks, then turned away from the camera for a moment. They eventually turned around, trying to keep their heads held high.

“Jonah. If you’re trying to mess with us in any capacity to get off the Satellite of Love, so help us…” Kinga began.

“I’m not, I promise,” Jonah assured.

Kinga took a deep breath. “…Dad? I–I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that was you last night. There was a thing with this guy I was dating, and he didn’t–how do I explain this? You didn’t even have the internet when you were my age, this…sorry, I’m rambling. Let’s just say yesterday, I broke up with someone I thought I’d be happy with, I guess.”

“Oh, Kinga, honey, I’m sorry,” Dr. Forrester apologized. “I’m sure you’ll find someone who will be more than happy to spend the rest of their life with you. And if not, there’s always ruling the world with an iron fist!”

Jonah relayed Dr. F’s message back, and Kinga started to tear up. Max stepped forward, stammering for a few minutes before speaking. “Dad, I’m–I’m sorry I wound up following in your footsteps, I know you told me not to, but–but I wanted to help Kinga. I know, this might wind up with me getting hurt, but I want to help her!”

“Max, it’s okay, it’s okay!” Frank quickly assured. “As long as you’re safe and happy, it’s okay. Just take care of yourself.”

When Jonah repeated the message back to Max, it was Max’s turn to start crying. This was…kinda awkward, all things considered. “…uh, Max? Kinga? You two okay?”

“Give–Give us a minute,” Kinga said, “or an hour. Or a year. Push the button, Max…”

Max hit the button, and Jonah let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Dr. F and Frank were still staring at the screen for a minute, and Jonah cleared his throat. “So, uh…are you guys happy you got to talk to them again?”

“Of course we are!” Dr. F responded. “Those are our kids, we haven’t seen them since we died! I wish it was them we could talk to and not you…”

“Jonaaaaah, why are you out here on the bridge this early in the morning?” Crow said as he and Tom walked onto the bridge.

“Oh, uh…Kinga and Max wanted to talk to me, and it kinda spiraled into me telling them about the whole ghost issue,” Jonah explained.

“So now they know? Is that good or bad?” Tom asked.

“I assume it’s good? They…hung up crying,” Jonah answered. “I think they missed their dads.”

Crow and Tom started giggling. “Never thought I’d hear something like ‘the Mads hung up crying!’ Oh man!”

Jonah took a quick a glance at Dr. F and Frank, then back at the bots. Didn’t he just have a conversation like this earlier?

–

The rest of the day was spent working on the Disco Cannon in Jonah’s room. The confetti had been ditched for the time being, though it remained in a tub in the room. Crow and Tom were off doing their own thing, while Dr. F was elsewhere and Frank was hanging around Jonah again. At least, like his son, he was tolerable compared to the Forresters.

“I need to find a good place to test this,” Jonah muttered. “I wonder if I can get away with testing it in the hall…”

“Why not in here?” Frank asked, gesturing around him.

“No, it’s too small, and I don’t want G to have to do any unnecessary repairs on the Satellite,” Jonah said, shaking his head. “The hall is long enough for the cannon’s trajectory, and it should be sturdy enough in the event I accidentally break something. I installed a device on the disco ball that should enable it to cling to the highest and flattest surface, though there’s still a chance it could fail and either break something, get broken, or attach to the bots. All of which I hope don’t happen because I’d like to get this right on the first try.”

Frank just nodded during Jonah’s ramble. “I…see, I think?”

“Then there’s the fact I can’t use anything paper in the cannon, causing a fire up here is…obviously not something I want to do, and now that I’m saying this stuff out loud, I don’t know why I thought confetti would be necessary for the Disco Cannon…” Jonah trailed off, mumbling to himself.

Neither Jonah or Frank spoke for what felt like half an hour as Jonah checked over the cannon before he sat back, grunting. He could literally just wheel the thing out into the hall and test it now, but…

“Why did you stay with Dr. Forrester?” he found himself asking. “If he killed you multiple times and brought you back just because…why did you stay?”

“Someone needed to keep an eye on him. Well, that’s kind of how it was at first, back in the early days of the experiment. Over time, we just sort of got closer, and we went out once or twice,” Frank explained. “To give him credit, he did get better over time. Didn’t kill me as much.”

“You went out on a date with him? Was he that charming?” Jonah questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“You’d be surprised. He’s a sweetheart when he wants to be,” Frank said, shrugging.

“…I’ll take your word for it,” Jonah mumbled, choosing that moment to wheel the cannon out into the hall.


	4. How Not To Keep A Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said this wasn't going to be long, but...whoops.
> 
> Also a side note: Kinga and Max's backstories still make me IMMENSELY sad, to be honest? Yes, other pieces of fiction have done something similar, probably, but for some reason it's these two in particular that make me the most sad. I want to hug them. And then get shot into space. And be forced to watch bad movies.

Jonah wheeled the cannon to the hall, facing the theater. He loaded the ball into the cannon, and quickly stood back. If he got this right, he had the rest of the week off and–okay, no time to relax if the Ghost Mads had anything to say about it, just time to prepare for the next film, but that was better than nothing.

 _Boom!_  The cannon went off, Jonah flinching at the loud sound. The disco ball immediately attached to the ceiling and began to rotate. Jonah pumped his fist in the air, grinning. “Oh, hell yes! First try!”

He ran over to the disco ball, yanking it down from the ceiling. This was a relatively simple invention, but who cares? He got this down first try! Eat your hearts out, Forrester family!

“Hey! Jonah, what was that loud noise?” Crow asked as he came trotting down the hall, Tom right behind him.

“The Disco Cannon, perfected!” Jonah declared, smiling brightly. “Well, not entirely perfected, but this works pretty well! I might have to work on some finer points to make sure it doesn’t attach to you guys during the Invention Exchange, but it seems to be a-okay! Might have to work on something to make the ball return to the cannon when the party’s over, though.”

Crow and Tom nodded as Jonah went on. “That’s great, Jonah! So, uh, what else are are you up to today?” Tom spoke up.

“Well, not much, I guess? I didn’t think I’d get the Disco Cannon done this early, to be honest…” Jonah admitted, strolling back over to the cannon. “Why? Did you guys need something, or…”

“Actually, we have a theory on why you can see ghosts!” Crow said, taking out a piece of paper. “So before we wound up on the Satellite again, we watched The Sixth Sense–”

“Which is still a miracle that it was M. Night Shymalan that wrote and directed that one, considering Split,” Tom commented.

“–and so Tom and I came up with two theories! Either you’re the kid who, for some reason, could see ghosts…” Crow began.

“Or you’re actually dead, and for some reason we can all see you. Though that raises further questions, like are we dead? Are Kinga and Max dead?” Tom wondered aloud.

“…I’m very certain I’m alive,” Jonah said, slowly shaking his head. “I think I’m closer to the kid who saw the ghosts.”

“Still! A theory to consider! Could your mom see ghosts? Or your dad?” Crow asked.

Jonah shrugged. “If they did, I hope I would have been told that. Can’t contact them right now…”

“Huh. Well, in that case, Tom and I are gonna gather up props for the next movie!” Crow declared, walking away with Tom in tow. Jonah watched after them, an idea starting to brew in his head. Maybe it couldn’t hurt to have a fifth bot up here…

–

Kinga held herself tight, sitting on the floor beside Max. So, their dads were ghosts. And assuming Jonah was not doing some elaborate plan to trick her into freeing them from the Satellite..how were they supposed to react?

“They’re–They’re really here, aren’t they?” Max spoke up, breaking the silence. “What the hell? Why…?”

“I don’t care, I–we never got to say goodbye to them, and suddenly they’re back. They’re back and  _we can talk to them,_ ” Kinga muttered. “We can talk to them, and I don’t want to waste this opportunity.”

“What are we supposed to ask?” Max said. “I mean, we more or less know how they died, right?”

“Well, yes, but…I want to know why dad went and became a star baby or whatever and just left me,” Kinga answered, standing up. “He loved me. Your dad loved you, they wouldn’t just leave us.”

“Do we know that?” Max quietly asked.

“Of course we do!” Kinga argued, raising her voice. “Why are you suddenly…I don’t know, like this?”

“Because I’m worried we might learn something we might’ve been better off not knowing!” Max responded, standing up. “You can’t deny that’s something to be concerned about!”

“Max, they were evil mad scientists torturing people with bad movies, what would be so bad they needed to hide something from us?” Kinga questioned.

“I don’t know, maybe they actually killed people? Maybe one of our family members were actually responsible for their deaths?” Max suggested.

Kinga snorted, rolling her eyes. “I’m pretty sure we’d know about any of that! Max, we don’t know how long they’ll stick around, and I’m not going to waste any time learning what I can from them!”

Max sighed, shoulders sagging. “…alright. I won’t stop you. Just be careful, okay? Especially if this really is some scam Jonah is pulling.”

“Yes, yes,” Kinga responded, striding away.

–

Back on the Satellite, Jonah brought back to his room a pile of mechanical junk. As what was becoming increasingly usual, Forrester and Frank floated after him.

“I didn’t think there would be that much stuff to scavenge from the basement!” Jonah said, dropping the junk with a loud clatter on his desk.

“I’m starting to wonder if the satellite was used as a dump before the experiments,” Dr. F wondered aloud. “Joel somehow managed to find enough garbage up here for the Invention Exchanges, and now you.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me. Hey, TV’s Frank, did you ever learn what happened to Erhardt?” Jonah asked.

“Uh…yeah, about that…” Frank began, muttering, before Dr. Forrester frowned.

“There’s no need for that subject to be brought up!” he cut in, loudly. “Why do you care, even?”

“Well, TV’s Frank mentioned him, and all we know is that he vanished one day. Why are you getting so defensive about it?” Jonah questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Be–Because it doesn’t matter what happened to him!” Dr. Forrester sputtered, throwing up his hands. “He was well before your time, what do you care?!”

Jonah sighed deeply. “I can tell this is not a good subject for you, but if you just give us answers instead of dancing around the subject, we’ll leave you alone on it. I promise.”

“Clay, c’mon…please tell us,” Frank added, giving Dr. Forrester a puppy-eyed look.

“Okay, okay! He might have…I don’t know, possiblykindadiedandIcouldn’tbringhimback,” Dr. Forrester mumbled.

“Could you be more clear, please?” Jonah asked, glaring up at Dr. Forrester.

“Fine! He died, and I couldn’t bring him back like I did with Frank! Happy?” Dr. Forrester questioned.

“Oh my  _god,_ ” Jonah muttered, removing his glasses before dragging his hands down his face.

“You said he was missing!” Frank spoke up, sounding horrified. “There was the milk carton with his picture on it!”

“Yeah, well, that was a fake, I’ll admit,” Dr. Forrester grumbled. “What could I have done, then? Who in their right mind would go ‘oh yeah, the guy before you? He died a horrible death, no big deal,’ to their newest employee?!”

“How did you kill him so bad you couldn’t bring him back, exactly??” Jonah questioned.

“Well…there was an accident with a baking soda volcano and a bucket of lava,” Dr. Forrester admitted. “It…literally blew up in his face. And that’s why I had to get a new assistant, my attempts at bringing him back just weren’t successful.”

“…good  _lord,_ ” Jonah muttered, head meeting desk. “How could you fuck up that badly?”

“What kind of invention–how–I mean there’s screwing up an invention and then–lava and a baking soda volcano? Really, Clay?” Frank said.

“Oh, don’t judge me!” Dr. Forrester responded, raising his voice. “It seemed like a good idea at the time!”

“Then how were you able to bring back Frank at all?” Jonah asked.

“I perfected the technology after Erhardt’s death!” Dr. Forrester explained. “Duh!”

“No! Not ‘duh’, that’s–god almighty, the fact Frank didn’t die permanently earlier is a miracle in itself.”

Jonah ran his hands through his hair. No one spoke for a minute as Jonah slowly started tinkering with the orange pile of junk in front of him. He needed to put  _that_  horrifying conversation out of his mind.

“…what’re you doing?” Frank asked, hovering over Jonah’s shoulder.

“Attempting to make another bot,” Jonah answered. “I think I’m gonna call him M. Waverly. I wanted to see if I could replicate Joel’s success, or at least create a robot that responds to external stimuli in some fashion. If it works like the bots do…I don’t know, really. I just hope it activates and works.”

“You’re seriously trying to repeat what Joelie did?” Dr. Forrester repeated, voice rising near the end of his question.

“I have time to try,” Jonah answered, not looking back at Dr. Forrester.

Dr. Forrester scoffed, and Jonah elected to ignore him. Frank watched Jonah tinker away, the room falling quiet again. Jonah lost track of time, something starting to resemble…a head, maybe? He wasn’t entirely sure yet.

Jonah stared at what was possibly M. Waverly’s head for a minute or two before an awful, awful thing bubbled in his mind. “…Erhardt could be on the SOL, couldn’t he?”

“…well, it’s not out of the question, per se,” Dr. Forrester said. “I mean, he could have followed us…somehow.”

Jonah stared long and hard at M. Waverly’s head before his head met the desk again, groaning loudly.


	5. And Then There Were Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took shorter to make?? idk
> 
> also who would be interested in a mst3k/miitopia crossover?

Kinga and Max rung up Jonah not long after  _that_  conversation, Kinga just about bouncing on her feet. Max was more subdued, not looking at the camera.

“Are our dads still there?” Kinga asked. “Please tell me they are, Jonah!”

“Yeah, they are, they said they’re going to haunt me so–fire away,” Jonah prompted.

Kinga squealed, clasping her hands together. “Yesyesyesyes! Okay, dad, why did you start the original experiments?”

Dr. Forrester puffed out his chest. “I despised Joel! God, that dopey-looking face, his stupid inventions…I swore, he thought he was better than me!”

Jonah did not relay Dr. F’s response right away, just staring at him with an incredulous look on his face. “…I see death hasn’t softened you at all.”

“What did you expect, I’m evil!” Dr. Forrester exclaimed.

“Heston! What did he say?!” Kinga demanded.

Jonah rolled his eyes. “He hated Joel because he thinks Joel thought he was better than him.”

Kinga nodded as though Dr. Forrester had said something sagely. “Makes sense. Why not use Deep 13 for the experiments? I mean–I know I’m one to talk, being up here on the moon and all, but…”

“Space issues, and the fact we couldn’t really fit a theater down there,” Dr. Forrester explained.

“Makes sense!” Kinga said aloud, rubbing her chin. “By the way, what did you study at Gizmonic?”

“Biology, mostly! That and a little chemistry. What did you study, honey?” Dr. Forrester asked.

“…do I have to say that last bit?” Jonah muttered before reluctantly relaying the message back to Kinga.

“Chemistry! In fact, I created a liquid medium for movies: Kingachrome! It still needs a few perfections here and there, but it’s near-perfect if I say so myself!” Kinga declared.

“I’m so proud of you, Kinga!” Dr. Forrester said, beaming. “I’m sure you’ll perfect it–and drive Banana Boy here mad!”

Kinga smiled, and…heck, Jonah couldn’t help but feel a little happy himself. Yes, this was a family of evil scientists and all, but seeing Kinga and Clayton smile like that was rather sweet. The joy promptly vanished, replaced by very worrying concern, when Jonah saw Max still wasn’t looking at the screen. His shoulders were curling in on themselves, a frown on his face.

“TV’s Son of TV’s Frank? Are you doing okay?” Jonah asked. Max jumped and looked at the screen.

“I’m–I’m fine, it’s none of your business how I’m feeling!” he responded.

“Don’t you want to talk to your dad too? I mean, if you want…”

Max shook his head, looking away again. “Look, I gotta make sure the Boneheads don’t…I don’t know, do something dumb.”

He walked away, and Kinga sighed. “Ignore him, he’s suddenly been all moody since yesterday.”

“…did I do something wrong?” Frank wondered, hanging his head.

“No, you didn’t!” Dr. Forrester quickly assured. “I think we just caught him in a bad mood, Frank.”

“Anything else, Kinga, or…” Jonah asked.

Kinga shook her head. “No, That’s–That’ll do for now. I’m gonna try to get Max to cheer up. Thank you, dad!”

The feed cut.

–

Jonah was standing on the bridge of the Satellite of Love again. Once again, he was standing behind who he was certain was Joel, Crow, and Tom. The three were chatting amongst themselves, though Joel’s voice was strangely quiet.

“Uh…hey! Hello?” Jonah prompted, reaching forward to poke Joel. His hand phased through, and Jonah paled. “No…no no no…”

Joel turned around and walked through Jonah like he wasn’t even there, and Jonah’s gut twisted itself into knots. “No, no, please, see me,  _don’t ignore me–_ ”

Jonah awoke to the sound of a door opening and closing, and promptly the sound of Dr. Forrester and Frank yelling.

“Well, it’s nice to see you again too, Clayton!” a squeaky voice said. “Sure am glad I made the trip all the way out to space and search forever trying to find where you were, only for you and your boyfriend to scream!”

“…it’s Erhardt, isn’t it?” Jonah muttered, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Dr. Forrester and Frank were holding each other, staring at the third unwelcome guest on the SOL. He was shorter and stockier, a mess of black hair on his head and wearing an outfit near-identical to Frank’s. Even from his bed, Jonah could smell smoke and vinegar.

Yeah. It was Erhardt. Unless Clayton killed  _another_  person at some point in his life with a baking soda volcano accident.

“I didn’t think you were seriously going to haunt me!” Dr. Forrester exclaimed. “Wait, can you even haunt me? We’re both dead!”

Erhardt shrugged. “I don’t know, but quite frankly, I’m concerned that you got yourself killed. Don’t tell me it was another baking soda volcano project!”

“It wasn’t! It–well, it was…” Dr. Forrester began, weakly.

“So we have another ghost now,” Jonah said, Erhardt turning his attention to him. He blinked at Jonah a few times, floating over to him.

“Where’s Joel?” Erhardt asked aloud.

“…he escaped years ago, Larry,” Dr. F admitted, using the tone of voice one uses when they go ‘fuck it, what else do I have to lose today?’ “He found the Hamdingers.”

Erhardt turned back to face Dr. F, jaw dropped. “Are you kidding?! So the experiment was a bust, then!”

“Not entirely! We got another guy to replace him!” Dr. Forrester responded. “And–well, that’s when I died. I don’t know what really happened after that.”

“I do,” Frank spoke up. “Pearl took over and tormented Mike. I visited them a while back.”

“And now I’m test subject number three,” Jonah finished. “I’m Jonah Heston, Gizmonic Back-jack driver.”

“They actually have working Back-jacks now? I must’ve been gone longer than I thought,” Erhardt muttered to himself before clearing his throat. “I am Doctor Laurence Erhardt, mad scientist and ex-partner of Clayton. And original co-torturer of Joel.”

“Nice to meet you, I guess? So now you’re gonna haunt me,” Jonah said, rubbing at his eyes.

“Why not?” Erhardt replied, grinning. “After all, three ghosts haunting a test subject combined with…eh…”

He turned to Dr. F. “Clayton, who’s torturing this guy?”

“Frank and my kids!” Dr. F declared, smiling. “They’re running the experiment now, their names are Kinga and Max!”

“You had kids?” Erhardt gasped. “I can’t believe it! That’s…well, congrats, Clayton!”

“So, uh…mind if I go back to sleep, or…” Jonah cut in.

“Oh, sure, sure!” Erhardt answered.

“We’ll have plenty of opportunities to bother you later, Jonah,” Clayton added, grinning.

Jonah rolled his eyes and lied back down, falling asleep instantly.

–

The rest of the week passed in what Jonah felt was an eternity. Crow and Tom were as they usually were, while the Ghosts of Mad Science Past, Present, and Future were figuring out what they could and couldn’t do as ghosts. Erhardt had attempted to pick Tom up, but Tom yelled and complained that he was suddenly cold without much else happening. Jonah wrote it down for future reference– _Cannot pick up living bots._

The list of things that they could interact with, however, was steadily growing. Books, hammocks, knobs for the shower, shampoo, soap, doors, the slowly shrinking pile of technology Jonah was using for M. Waverly, M. Waverly’s head…at least most of it wasn’t being thrown at him. Most of it being the key term.

Movie Day couldn’t come soon enough. The hot water cannon felt vaguely familiar, but eh.

“Before we send the movie, I want to know–do they follow you into the theater?” Kinga asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, they do,” Jonah responded, nodding. “…why?”

“Is it so weird I want to know what our dads are doing, Heston?” Kinga asked back. “I can’t see them, I want to know what they do around you…!”

Max returned to frowning, not looking directly at the screen. Kinga immediately noticed and cleared her throat. “Send them the movie!”

The ghosts took their seats on the left-hand side of the theater, Crow walking over to the left. “Jonah, you said the old Mads are over here, right? Am I near them?”

“Crow, you should really just relax,” Jonah responded. “You can’t interact with them, they can’t interact with you.”

“Aw, come on…” Crow grumbled, returning to his seat.

The movie in all its horrible, rotten glory came and passed. Frank, Forrester, and Erhardt joined in the riffing, though Erhardt’s voice started to mix with Tom’s at times.

Jonah rubbed his head when Erhardt chimed in at complaining about the dinosaur looking far away in perspective. “Ohh this is not going to be fun…”

“Jonah? You okay?” Crow asked. “Is it the ghosts?”

“It is, I–okay, I should have told you guys earlier, but…Erhardt–”

“I called it!” Tom immediately piped up. “I suspected Erhardt was dead, but noooooo, you didn’t believe me Crow!”

“Oh, shaddup!” Crow muttered.

“…he’s haunting me,” Jonah finished. “And I’m having a hard time keeping their comments separate from yours.”

Crow sympathetically patted Jonah’s arm. “We can’t be too far off from the end of the movie, just hang in there. Can I tell them to shut up?”

“They won’t listen, but you’re welcome to try,” Jonah answered.

Crow would’ve grinned if he could, turning to look at where the ghosts were. “Hey! Clayton, Frank, Larry! SHUT UP!”

Jonah started giggling, which bubbled into audible laughter when the ghosts gave sour looks to Crow. “Okay, that–that was kinda funny!”

“I’ve always wanted to do that!” Crow declared.

“Hey, hey, I wanna tell them stuff too!” Tom said. He turned around in his seat, cleared his throat, and yelled “You guys suck!”

“Well, screw you guys too!” Erhardt retorted, Jonah doubling over in laughter. G poked in from the ceiling, tilting her head.

“What are you guys doing?” she asked.

“We’re being rude to ghosts! Wanna join in?” Crow prompted.

“Heck, why not! Hey, Forrester! Screw you!” G said before ascending back to the ceiling. Forrester and Erhardt looked appalled, glaring at Jonah.

The movie ended, and Kinga was frowning as Jonah strolled onto the bridge. “…really, Heston? Really?”

“Hey, why not?” Jonah replied, shrugging. “I didn’t encourage or discourage the bots from doing it.”

Kinga just shook her head. “Push the button, Max.”

–

That evening, Jonah resumed his attempt to build a bot. M. Waverly’s head was somewhat finished, he just needed something to be able to see…

“That looks like crap,” Erhardt noted, hovering over Jonah’s shoulder.

“It’s not finished yet,” Jonah simply said, not turning to look at Erhardt.

“Why do you even want to make a bot? What possible role could it play on here?” Erhardt questioned.

“I don’t know yet, but I’m hoping they’ll be accepted by the bots,” Jonah answered. “A little sibling could be nice for them.”

Erhardt scoffed. “Oh please. Stop trying to be like Joel, it looks bad on you!”

Jonah held his head in his hands, something short of a migraine gnawing at him. “…I’m not trying to be like Joel, I want to be  _me._ ”

“But the similarities are pretty striking!” Erhardt went on. “I mean, it couldn’t be a coincidence that just like Joel–”

“Stop!” Jonah snapped, glaring at Erhardt. “Look, I don’t want to hear about how I’m like him! I’m me, Jonah Heston, no one else!”

Erhardt blinked for a few minutes, eyes somewhat wide. “…well excuse me.”

Jonah grumbled, resuming his work on M. Waverly. A body had been made, and the start of his legs…but what if he just wound up making a repeat of Cambot? So far he only had the one eye and he was small, and Cambot was pretty much like that now–

Jonah shook his head. No, no, he was not doing this. M. Waverly wasn’t being made to record like Cambot was made for–ugh, but what if that happened, anyway? What if M. Waverly just became a Cambot clone? What if–

Jonah stared at his desk, raising a hand to his head. This was really fucking with his head. And the Three Terrible Stooges weren’t helping matters.

“…I’m not copying Joel. I’m  _not_  copying Joel,” he repeated to himself, quietly.


	6. Yo Dude, Keep It Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter of title is referencing Yo Girl from Heathers, which I listened to copious amounts of while writing this chapter and probably will continue to listen for the rest of this fic. I figure it's appropriate in a darkly funny way: Jonah is haunted by three ghosts, Veronica is haunted by three ghosts!

Jonah struggled to fall asleep that night. The room was too quiet, his thoughts kept looping back to all the Joel stuff…

He tossed and turned in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Crow and Tom were asleep, he didn’t want to bother them…Cambot, maybe, they’d know Jonah wasn’t sleeping well…G? Maybe? She couldn’t really listen for long: tethered to the moon instead of orbiting Earth helped, but she still needed to keep the ship in working order.

For obvious, obvious reasons, the ghost Mads were out. As were the alive ones. Unless in their heads ‘driving in the fact he might just wind up being a copycat of Joel Robinson’ was not the same as ‘driving a guy mad with awful movies.’

Jonah gave a frustrated grunt, covering his face with his pillow. “God damn it.”

He didn’t want to be lying awake at ass o’clock at night mentally arguing over who to talk about this, if he was going to talk with anyone. Jonah just wanted to sleep right now, and hopefully not have a dream that was going to make him upset, and–

“Jonah?” G quietly said, Jonah sitting up in bed. She was frowning as she entered the room.

“Oh, uh–G, what is it?” Jonah asked. “Something wrong?”

“Cambot told me you’re not doing so hot. You’ve been stressed since Erhardt arrived, and you look like you aren’t sleeping well,” G responded, approaching Jonah. “Is everything okay?”

Jonah immediately felt tears well up, and he looked away. “…not really.”

“Want to talk about it? If you want,” G quickly added. “If you don’t, it’s okay too.”

Jonah took a deep breath. “I just–I’m worried all I’m going to be remembered for is being a copy of Joel. I’m kidnapped by a Forrester and their henchmen that restart the experiments, I’m building a new bot that might just end up as a copy of Cambot if I screw something up during building them, and…and I don’t know, that’s…”

G wrapped herself around Jonah in what could come close to a hug for her. Jonah did his best to hug her back. “I–I know, I’m likely just over thinking all this crap, but…”

“Jonah, if you’re worried, you’re worried. It isn’t stupid to be worried about this sort of thing, okay?” G assured. “For what it’s worth, you’re not turning out to be a copycat of Joel. You’re building a new bot that might end up as a copy of Cambot, but they could end up as something else entirely. And yes, the experiments restarted with you, but that could have happened to literally anyone on the planet if they were unlucky enough!”

“…y’think so?” Jonah found himself asking.

“I know so. And before you start blaming yourself, it isn’t your fault the experiments restarted or anything related to that. The Forresters are…well, the Forresters, they’re evil and they do what they want,” G quickly reminded. “None of this is your fault. You answered a distress call you were certain was real, yes, but it shows that you at least…I don’t know, you care about people. Short of it is…you’re just fine, Jonah.”

“…thank you, G,” Jonah said, quietly.

“You’re welcome! I want to stay a little longer, but I need to keep the ship’s higher functions going. Get some rest, now!” G responded, shortly before leaving.

Jonah lied back down, and found himself falling asleep within an instant.

–

Jonah awoke to…peace and quiet. That couldn’t be a good sign. Either it would be something the ghosts were doing, or the bots were up to something.

“…G, what are Crow and Tom doing?” Jonah asked aloud.

“What they’re up to? Uh, Jonah, they’re asleep,” G answered. “It’s like 5 in the morning.”

Jonah blinked for a few minutes before dragging a hand down his face. “…when did I fall asleep?”

“Midnight-ish? Around that time, at least.” G poked her head into the room. “Feeling any better?”

“More or less? Not feeling like a dumpster fire at least,” Jonah said, sitting up. “Any sign the Heathers are up to something?”

“Isn’t the correct term something like Heather Chandler, Kurt, and Ram?” G asked. “They’re the dead ones.”

“Maybe? I don’t know, they might as well be the Heathers to me,” Jonah responded, shrugging.

“Hm. Anyways, haven’t really seen anything out of place,” G reported. “Are they in here?”

Jonah shook his head. “No, but…eh, I’m going to wait before getting worried.”

He didn’t hear a peep from them until after breakfast, where he found Clayton, Frank, and Erhardt in his room. The three were hovering way too close to M. Waverly’s bits and pieces for his liking.

“Where were you guys?” Jonah asked.

“I was introducing Erhardt to our kids, of course!” Clayton responded, matter-of-factly. “I wanted him to meet them, since he passed before he ever got a chance to meet them.”

“They’re good kids!” Erhardt piped up, cheerfully. “Wish I could’ve actually talked to them!”

“Eh, Kinga’s likely going to demand it, so…” Jonah shrugged.

“Are you still working on that robot?” Frank asked, looking over at M. Waverly. “Is he going to be your half of the invention exchange?”

“Probably not. I, uh…can’t really think of anything for the Invention Exchange,” Jonah admitted, walking over to M. Waverly’s table.

“Do something that will get you sued,” Clayton joked. Jonah rolled his eyes, sighing.

“Ah yes, let me just find a way to get sued in space,” he muttered, continuing his work on M. Waverly.

–

Jonah lost track of time with M. Waverly, only jolting out of his work daze when G nudged him. “Jonah! Hey, Moon 13 is calling!”

Jonah blinked for a few moments before stumbling out of his room and toward the deck, the ghosts trailing after him. Tom and Crow joined him in short order as he pressed the button, and…a blonde woman dressed in green appeared on the screen.

“Well, this is new!” Crow commented. “You’re that…one Pearl-looking lady?”

“Synthia. My name is Synthia,” the woman responded. “To be fair, you’re close. I’m her clone.”

Crow and Tom exchanged glances. “…clones. Okay, yeah, sure, I can live with that,” Tom said.

“Why are you calling?” Jonah asked.

Synthia took a deep breath before responding. “I overheard that you can see and talk to ghosts. Or at least three ghosts.”

“Well, yes, but why do you want to know?” Jonah couldn’t help but ask. “Do you want to talk to them too?”

“No, I…how do I explain this, it’s…it’s something that might not make any real sense right now, but…is Clayton there?” Synthia asked in turn.

Jonah looked around for a quick second. Clayton was indeed there, looking at the screen with an expression that was stuck somewhere between anger and disgust.

“Yeah, he is,” Jonah said, nodding.

“…Pearl won’t say it, but…I’m sorry, Clay,” Synthia apologized. “I know it’s years too late, you have every right to reject my apology, but I just didn’t want to leave things just be if I could at least say an apology to you.”

Clayton blinked, the look on his face dropping. “…you’re…you’re saying sorry. You–not Mother,  _you…_ ”

“Please don’t tell Kinga I called, I…I don’t want her to know what happened yet,” Synthia said to Jonah. “What happened to Clayton…Kinga would hate us, and I’m just not ready to go through that.”

Clayton’s anger returned in full force as he shouted at the screen. “You’re not ready to go through that?  _You’re not ready to go through that?!_  You’re just as bad as Mother is! I wasn’t ready to die, but guess what? I had no say in the matter!”

Jonah flinched despite himself. “…Clayton isn’t happy, and quite frankly neither am I. She deserves to know…whatever happened to him. He’s her dad, and if what happened is so important you had to apologize in Pearl’s place, and only when you know I can talk to him…”

“I can’t! Look, I–I have to go,” Synthia blurted before the feed cut. Jonah groaned, slumping over the console.

“…the Forrester family is screwed up,” he muttered.

“Yeah, that’s kinda obvious at this point,” Crow said.


End file.
